Confusion over Shevardnadze's whereabouts

Confusion reigns over the whereabouts of former Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze.

A spokesman for the southern division of the German Federal Border Guard said Mr Shevardnadze had flown to Germany a day after resigning following mass protests over disputed elections.

"I can confirm to you that Shevardnadze has landed," the spokesman told Reuters. Mr Shevardnadze arrived at the airport of the southern spa town of Baden-Baden, the spokesman said.

However, the spokesman later retracted the earlier statement, saying there was confusion about Mr Shevardnadze's whereabouts.

"It doesn't seem to be quite certain at the moment; there is a lot of confusion," the spokesman said.

Speculation that Mr Shevardnadze might choose exile in Germany, deeply grateful for his role in aiding unification in 1990 when he was Soviet foreign minister, had been rife in recent days following a report he had bought a villa in a southern German spa town.

There was no immediate confirmation on whether Mr Shevardnadze had chosen Germany as his permanent home.

Mr Shevardnadze's spokesman yesterday denied that Georgia's former president had gone to Germany.

"Shevardnadze is in Georgia, at Krtsanisi [the presidential residence south of the capital of Tbilisi]," his spokesman Kakha Imnadze told AFP.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the German Foreign Ministry said he was unaware of the reports that Mr Shevardnadze had come to Germany.

German officials had said Mr Shevardnadze would be welcome in the country.

"If Eduard Shevardnadze wants to come to Germany he would be welcome on account of all that he did to help with the unification of Germany," German government spokesman Bela Anda said on Sunday.

Successive German governments have not forgotten Mr Shevardnadze's role in helping the country win its long-hoped-for unification despite opposition from some European capitals.

They showed their appreciation by giving him at least two armour-plated Mercedes cars in the 1990s, when he was the target of assassination attacks in Georgia.